Interviews with rail industry leaders about systems thinking in the management of organisational change and risk management

Abstract

The rail industry in Great Britain has faced unprecedented demand for its services in the past decade, whilst addressing technological transformation, and with multiple objectives in relation to safety and performance. Systems theories seems to offer solutions for these challenges, but there has been little research on how rail organisations can establish processes and build resilience during periods of significant change that are complementary with this type of theoretical approach. This paper investigated senior business leaders’ perspectives of how systems thinking is, or could be, applied in organisational design, system change and risk management. Twenty-five interviews were carried out with senior executives and managers in the railway industry. These interviews were designed to explore the perceptions of these people in policy setting and senior management roles and what they see as barriers to change within a dynamic, fast moving, industry. This included exploring both the ‘work as imagined’ in the corporate strategy and company procedures, as well as their understanding of ‘work as done’. Two national change programmes that affect the frontline rail engineering workforce have been used as contexts to frame consultations within this study. The results identify some important points to consider for the design of change in a complex industry, and how a socio-technical system framework or model might be applied in practice.